Odell Beckham Jr. Will Undergo Offseason Surgery?
09:29am: ESPN’s Josina Anderson says Beckham texted her this morning and told her that he has not yet made a decision as to whether he will have surgery this offseason (Twitter link). However, he did confirm that he has been in pain since training camp.
08:30am: Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has largely disappointed during his first year in Cleveland. Although he is on pace for a 1,000-yard season, he has just two touchdowns and has caught just 55.3% of his targets, a career low. But there could be a reason for the disconnect between OBJ and quarterback Baker Mayfield.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Beckham has been playing through a serious and painful sports hernia injury that will require surgery in the offseason. The injury has not forced him to miss any game action, but it has kept him out of practice a great deal, so he and Mayfield have not had as much time to develop chemistry as they would like.
As Rapoport observes, Beckham has been on the injury report every week this season with either a hip or groin ailment. Hernias are sometimes characterized as hip or groin injuries, which adds credence to RapSheet’s report.
But as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes, the hernia injury is not the only thing keeping Beckham’s production from taking off. Her sources say the Browns’ offensive design is inherently flawed and that there is a disconnect between head coach Freddie Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Some believe that the team’s QBs, including third-stringer Drew Stanton, have too much influence over the game plan, and Beckham has admitted that he has had a hard time keeping his frustration in check.
Beckham did make some headlines earlier this week when he declined to definitively say that he wants to be back with the Browns in 2020. However, Rapoport (unsurprisingly) says it would be far-fetched to expect Cleveland to trade OBJ this offseason. But the club may make major changes to its coaching staff, so between that shake-up and Beckham’s surgery, perhaps Beckham can return to form next year.
Titans Discussing Long-Term Contract For Ryan Tannehill
Ryan Tannhill‘s surprising resurgence continues, and Dianna Russini of ESPN.com reports that the Titans are internally discussing a new contract for the 31-year-old signal-caller (Twitter link).
We heard several weeks ago that Tennessee would make an effort to retain Tannehill this offseason if he continued to perform well down the stretch, but Russini’s report suggests that the Titans are now sold on the man who has led them to a 5-1 record since taking over for the disappointing Marcus Mariota.
Indeed, despite rumors that Tennessee could put the franchise tag on Tannehill, Russini suggests that the Titans are not considering the tag but are thinking about the type of contract that would definitively make Tannehill their starting QB for the foreseeable future. That is quite a development for a player who rarely lived up to his billing as a first-round pick with the Dolphins and who was only acquired by Tennessee in an effort to push Mariota.
But Tannehill has the 7-5 Titans in the thick of the AFC playoff race, and outside scouts have been just of fond of his play as Tennessee. Plus, he has been much more than a game manager, as he leads the league with 9.1 yards-per-attempt and a 113.9 QB rating. Given his history, contract negotiations could be complicated, but at this point, it would not be surprising to see Tannhill land something akin to the four-year, $88MM pact (with over $50MM guaranteed) that Nick Foles received from the Jaguars this year.
Interestingly, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com says the Titans have not discussed an extension for running back Derrick Henry, who is also eligible for unrestricted free agency this offseason. While Tannehill has been great, Henry is the motor that makes the Titans’ offense run, and the team has finally committed to giving him a bell cow workload in 2019. With four games left to play, he has already set career-highs in rushing yards (1,140), receiving yards (200), and total TDs (13).
Of course, teams have been hesitant to pay top-dollar for running backs in recent years, and some of those who have taken the plunge have been burned. But given his fairly light usage over his first two years in the league and his ability to dominate a game, Henry would seem to be a good bet for a second contract. The Titans have a policy of not negotiating extensions in-season, but the fact that they have not internally discussed a Henry re-up is surprising.
Giants, P Riley Dixon Agree To Extension
The Giants have agreed to a three-year, $8.7MM extension with punter Riley Dixon, as Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). Dixon has averaged 47 yards per punt in 2019 — sixth-best in the NFL and a career-high for Dixon — and he may be the most consistent player on New York’s roster this year.
The Broncos drafted Dixon in the seventh round of the 2016 draft, and he served as Denver’s punter from 2016-17 before New York acquired him for a conditional seventh-rounder in April 2018 (the Broncos had recently signed Marquette King, which made Dixon expendable). Other teams were interested in Dixon, who won the Giants’ punting job in 2018 and who was eligible for unrestricted free agency this offseason.
The $2.9MM average annual value on Dixon’s new deal doesn’t make him the highest-paid punter in the game, but it does put him in the top-five. His extension is one order of business for the Giants to scratch off their list in advance of what should be an intriguing offseason.
AFC South Notes: Jags, Tannehill, Funchess
As they limp towards the end of their second consecutive disappointing campaign, the Jaguars could be looking at a major organizational overhaul this offseason, as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes. Several members of head coach Doug Marrone‘s staff believe Marrone will be fired at season’s end, and questions remain as to how long team president Tom Coughlin will remain with the club.
Indeed, La Canfora says members of Jacksonville’s front office are just as concerned about their job security as the team’s coaches and are beginning to explore opportunities elsewhere. Owner Shad Khan did consider a significant shakeup last year before opting to retain Marrone, Coughlin, and GM Dave Caldwell, but he may not be as patient this time. If Khan does elect to make a GM change, La Canfora names Scott Pioli as a potential replacement, and Patriots OC Josh McDaniels could be on the short list of replacements for Marrone.
Now for more from the AFC South:
- The Titans are interested in extending their relationship with quarterback Ryan Tannehill beyond 2019, and as La Canfora writes, the franchise tag could be in play for Tannehill. The tag would come with a roughly $27MM cap hit, but with Tannehill suddenly a hot commodity, the club could hit him with the tag as a precursor to a multi-year pact. Of course, much depends on how Tannehill finishes the season, and while the two sides are unlikely to engage in contract talks in the short term, Tannehill looks set to cash in once the season is over.
- Despite some hope that veteran wideout Devin Funchess would be returning to the field soon, the Colts have decided to shut him down for the year, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Funchess, who suffered a fractured collarbone during Indianapolis’ Week 1 loss to the Chargers, simply has not healed enough, per Rapoport, who says the plate inserted into the fracture did not work out as hoped. This is a difficult blow for the Colts, who have seen many of their top skill players miss time due to injury this year.
- The Texans have been in the news a great deal over the last two days. The team placed first-round rookie Tytus Howard on IR on Saturday, and today we learned that the club will operate without a GM in 2020. Houston also got some potentially exciting news, as J.J. Watt could return to the field in time for the playoffs.
Cowboys To Try Out Kickers
We heard just two days ago that the Cowboys would not be moving on from sophomore kicker Brett Maher, but the team is at least putting Maher on notice. As Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets, Dallas is bringing in three kickers for a workout today.
The Cowboys suffered an ugly loss to the Bills on Thanksgiving, and while there was plenty of blame to go around, Maher missed two field goals, which triggered speculation that Dallas could look for a replacement. Indeed, Maher has struggled to a 67.9% success rate on field goal attempts in 2019, which puts him among the league’s most inaccurate kickers.
That mark is well below the 80.6% success rate he posted in his rookie campaign in 2018, and while he is perfect on PATS this year, his accuracy on medium- to long-range kicks leaves much to be desired. Maher has connected on just five of 12 attempts from 40 yards or more.
Per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys are working out Austin MacGinnis, Nick Rose, and Tristan Vizcaino (Twitter link). Of those three, only Rose has any regular season NFL experience.
It’s unclear if the Cowboys would consider cutting Maher if they are impressed by one of the tryout players, but they are at least trying to spur Maher into a quick turnaround.
J.J. Watt Could Return In 2019
Texans star defensive end J.J. Watt may not be out for the season after all. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes, Houston is saving its final injured reserve/designated to return spot for Watt, who could return for the playoffs (if not sooner).
Watt suffered a torn pec during the Texans’ Week 8 win over the Raiders, and Watt himself acknowledged that he would miss the remainder of the year. But Watt is doing remarkably well in rehab, and he is therefore optimistic he could return to the field much sooner than initially anticipated.
Per Rapoport, Watt will have another MRI in a few weeks to determine his status, and there is even some thought that he could be back for the regular season finale against the Titans (assuming, of course, that the game carries any playoff significance). And even if Watt aggravates the pec injury, the ensuing surgery would not sideline him for any portion of the 2020 campaign.
Getting Watt back in any capacity would obviously be a major boon for the Texans’ championship hopes. One of the game’s best defenders when healthy, the five-time First Team All-Pro posted 16 sacks in 2018 — the first time he had played a full season since 2015 — and had four sacks in 2019 before suffering the pec injury.
Texans To Remain Without GM In 2020
Though the Texans failed in their efforts to hire Patriots exec Nick Caserio as their GM this spring, recent reports indicated that Houston — which has operated without a GM in 2019 — would simply hire Caserio in 2020, when his contract with New England is up. However, that no longer appears to be the case.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, the Texans plan to go without a true GM in 2020 as well. Currently, head coach Bill O’Brien has final say over football operations, though he works closely with vice president of team development Jack Easterby in that regard. Meanwhile, VP of Football Administration, Chris Olsen, handles contracts and salary cap matters, and Matt Bazirgan is in charge of player personnel.
The Texans are sitting at 7-4 and are in the driver’s seat for the AFC South title, so as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suggests, owner Cal McNair simply may be saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But while the major personnel moves the club has made without a GM — trading two first-round picks for Laremy Tunsil and Kenny Stills and trading a third-round pick for Duke Johnson, for example — have worked out relatively well in the short term, they will significantly handicap the team down the road. Those moves, combined with the team’s misplay of the Jadeveon Clowney situation, suggest to Florio that the Texans really do need a GM.
Indeed, the club interviewed GM candidates after the Caserio fiasco before electing to move forward with its current power structure. It could be that, given their dearth of high-end draft capital and the outside uncertainty as to how much power Easterby would wield over a new GM, the Texans may have a tough time attracting top candidates, so they will simply forego making the effort for now.
Whoever is calling the shots in 2020 will need to engage in extension talks with star QB Deshaun Watson, which may be tough to navigate with a true GM.
Latest On Cowboys’ Pending FAs, Jason Garrett
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Cowboys have made no progress on extensions for pending free agents Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper, or Byron Jones, as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes. La Canfora had a similar report towards the end of October, and nothing has changed since then.
Dallas, obviously, is not going to let Prescott get away, and even if the two sides cannot work out a long-term pact prior to the deadline for using the franchise tag, the Cowboys would tag their signal-caller to buy themselves some more time. That would mean that the Cowboys could not tag Cooper, and La Canfora’s sources say the odds of the team retaining Cooper without the tag are slim. Plus, given that we are now close to the end of the season, Cooper is not inclined to forego his shot at the open market by restarting extension negotiations.
La Canfora adds that there has been no communication between the Cowboys and Jones, and no talks are expected before the end of the season. With Jones, like Cooper, poised for a big payday, it seems increasingly likely that the team will lose both players.
With respect to Jason Garrett, we have already heard that the Cowboys will not be firing their head coach before the end of the season, but we also heard that Garrett may need to capture the Lombardi Trophy in order to remain in Dallas beyond 2019, and Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network confirms earlier rumors that the Cowboys will have interest in Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley if they elect to move on from Garrett (video link). Owner Jerry Jones and his family already have a relationship with Riley stemming from Riley’s recruitment of Jones’ grandson, John Stephen Jones, who ultimately elected to play his collegiate ball at Arkansas.
Riley has been a hot name in NFL coaching rumors in the past, and if he elects to jump to the professional ranks, Rapoport suggests the Cowboys could be appealing to him.
Chargers Could Bench Philip Rivers
The 4-7 Chargers likely have to win out in order to have a shot at the playoffs, and for the first time since quarterback Philip Rivers entered the league in 2004, Rivers may not give the Bolts the best chance to win. As such, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com hears that Rivers could be pulled from Sunday’s game against the Broncos if he continues to struggle.
Rapoport says that head coach Anthony Lynn will not have a quick hook, but if Rivers performs as badly on Sunday as he has over the past two weeks — he has thrown a whopping seven interceptions and has fumbled twice during LA’s two-game skid — Lynn could yank Rivers in favor of veteran backup Tyrod Taylor.
It’s a move that Lynn obviously does not want to make, but he may not have a choice. Rivers, who will turn 38 next week, has struggled with interceptions a bit throughout his career, but he is currently not doing enough to offset those turnovers. Rivers and Lynn have spoken several times since the team’s crushing loss to the Chiefs in Week 11, and Rivers knows he must play better.
On the other hand, Lynn does not want the eight-time Pro Bowler looking over his shoulder and playing without the same carefree style that has made him so successful in the past. With respect to pulling Rivers, Lynn said, “I don’t plan on having to make that decision…Most great athletes, they respond well. I believe Philip is going to respond well.”
Taylor, a three-year starter for the Bills from 2015-17, has shown the ability to take care of the football, and he can also make plays with his legs, which Rivers cannot do. Taylor signed a two-year, $11MM pact with the Chargers in March, so if Los Angeles should decide to move on from Rivers this offseason — which is looking increasing likely – Taylor may have a shot to serve as the team’s starter in 2020.
Broncos To Start Drew Lock
After officially activating him off injured reserve on Saturday, the Broncos will start rookie QB Drew Lock against the Chargers on Sunday, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. It will be the first regular season action of Lock’s professional career.
Although the Broncos drafted Lock in the second round of the 2019 draft with the notion that he could be the team’s long-term answer under center, he may have to perform at a very high level throughout the rest of the season to stave off any competition for the starting QB job in 2020. The Missouri product had an uneven preseason and was knocked out of the Broncos’ fourth exhibition game with a thumb injury, which landed him on IR. He did not return to practice until the second week of November.
As such, it would not be surprising for the Broncos to go shopping for a signal-caller yet again this offseason if Lock doesn’t excel, though Lock would almost certainly be involved in a QB competition if that happens. After all, he was considered a borderline first-round talent, and he had a prolific four-year collegiate career at Mizzou.
Lock will have a stiff test against the Chargers, whose defense ranks in the top-10 in yards allowed and points allowed, and who will be returning safety Derwin James.